Burglary victim finds thief's phone, calls his mom

West Seattle woman made teen go door-to-door, returning items

A forgetful burglar was recently busted by his victim after she found his cellphone and called his mother.

Eliza Webb, 29, was getting ready for work a few weeks ago when she noticed the inside of her car didn't look right, Seattle TV station KOMO reported.

A few things were missing, and a black cellphone was lying on the driver's seat.

Within 15 minutes, Webb figured out the phone belonged to a 19-year-old man. But instead of calling police, she took a different route -- she called his mother.

"I said, 'This is a very uncomfortable phone call to make. I have your son's phone and I'm missing some things out of my car and I think they might be two related items,' and she was devastated," Webb told KOMO.

She and her husband went to the boy's house and retrieved her sunglasses and running shoes.

But instead of stopping there, Webb ended up taking the teen and a cohort door-to-door to apologize and return items they had stolen from 13 unlocked cars during a night of drinking, the Seattle Times reported.

Webb said she just wanted the teens to own up to their mistakes and understand the consequences.

"Sometimes when you get shamed or told that you did something wrong by somebody else it can stick," she told KOMO.

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